U.S. employers created 169,000 jobs last month, fewer than expected and a possible speed bump for the Federal Reserve's plan to start dialing down its monetary stimulus this fall, the Labor Department said Friday.

Nonfarm payrolls were expected to have risen by 175,000 in August after a 162,000 gain in July, according to economists polled by Thomson Reuters. Analysts polled by Briefing.com had expected, on average, a gain of 177,000 last month.

Adding to the disappointing job news, the Labor Department revised the July job gain from 162,000 to 104,000.